


Sweetness

by Erulisse17



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidentally holding hands, Bonding in an airplane, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Feminist rants about Sci-Fi, First Married Fight, First kids' halloween, Married Life, Meet-Cute, Rosh HaShana | Jewish New Year, THAT'S MY WIFE, Trying to steal coffee, With So Much Fluff and Sweetness You Guys Don't Even Know, meet cute, reylo family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2020-11-29 07:53:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20960015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erulisse17/pseuds/Erulisse17
Summary: Small Vignettes In the Life of Rey and Ben Solo:Chapter One - Of first fights, baked bread, and hope for a sweet and good yearChapter Two - Of caped crusaders, trick-or-treats, and knowledge that one should be far more afraid of Mama BearChapter Three - Of missed connections, mistaken identities, and new beginningsFor crossingwinter's amazing prompts for the 2019 Fall Fic Exchange





	1. Sweetness on the Tongue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crossingwinter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/gifts).
**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first, thank you to Crossingwinter for her amazing prompts! I did my utmost best to capture the beautiful spirit of Rosh Hashanah, and apologies in advance for any mistakes - errors are all mine. I hope you enjoy!

God, he was tired.

The end of the fiscal year meant lots of scrambling and deadlines and endless meetings that Benjamin Solo did  _ not  _ have time nor patience for.

Especially since the last thing he wanted to do was listen to Hux drone on about quarterly milestones when his new bride was at home, waiting for him.

After dating long distance for a nearly unbearable amount of time, being in the same state, let alone the same house, was an extremely welcome change. All of the snarky texts in the world couldn’t make up for not being able to kiss Rey whenever he wanted. 

Which was right. Kriffing. Now.

_ Hux still torturing you with graphs? _ His phone buzzed slightly, confirming his suspicion that Rey could somehow read his mind.

** _God yes. If he says ‘foreseeable profits’ one more time, I’m going to murder him._ **

_ Oo, conjugal visits! That could be fun. Unless you get shanked in prison. Then that’d be sad. :( _

** _Why would I get shanked?_ **

_ Because you have a particular talent for pissing people off. _

** _I’d say it’s the other way around._ **

_ Hence why you’d get shanked. Although, I think you’d look super sexy with a scar. ;) _

** _Well Hux finally shut up. So now we’ll never know. I’m escaping before he calls another meeting and I have to jam his projected earnings down his throat. See you in a bit._ **

_ Sounds good! Let me know if you get a prison tat on the way home! _

The corner of his mouth turned up the barest amount, causing at least two interns to gape in shock.

Home.

He hadn’t had one of those in a long time. He’d had apartments, rooms, even a house, but they were always just places to sleep at night, to escape the tedious drivel of those around him. But in the month they’d been married, Rey had brought warmth to the minimalistic space, adding photos and haphazard piles of books and movies to his previously spotless abode. Far too many pillows invaded his bed, ridiculously soft blankets bunched up on his sofa, and his carefully curated closet was unceremoniously shoved into less than half the space.

As much as he hated change, these signs of her presence in their home, in his life, that he wasn’t alone anymore, was oddly comforting.

At least, it was until he opened the door.

“Hiya love!” Rey called from the kitchen, muffled music sounding from the living room, and before he could respond, Ben froze in abject horror.

Flour was  _ everywhere _ .

It covered the counters, the sink, the stove, the floor, even the undersides of the cabinets. He even thought there might have been some on the ceiling, somehow.

“I take it Hux survived the day?” She teased, flour sprinkling her nose, cheeks, forehead, hands, and arms as she came around to give him a kiss before he held up a finger.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath at the state of his once-pristine kitchen, he tried to speak calmly. “What happened here?”

“Huh?” Rey glanced behind her. “What do you mean?”

“I cleaned the kitchen this morning before I left for work. What happened to it?”

Her brows furrowed at his tone. “I cooked. Or baked, rather.”

“And you didn’t have time to clean up?”

“I did clean up!” She responded defensively, her voice rising as she pointed to the overflowing sink; cutting boards, measuring cups, and his good knives all balanced precariously on top of each other.

“You just piled everything in the sink!”

“So it would be off the counter!”

“Off the counter doesn’t equal clean!” Ben shouted, gesturing behind him. “Especially when everything is covered in flour!”

“Everything is not covered in flour!” Rey yelled back, slamming her hand down on the counter and sending a large cloud of white powder up into the air.

White dots floated down, landing on both of their heads as the tension grew between them, each one glaring at the other in completely justified, righteous fury-

_ “Werewolf bar mitzvah! Spooky scary. Boys becoming men! Men becoming wolves!” _ Played loudly in the frigid silence as Ben slowly turned toward the bluetooth speaker.

“Werewolf  _ what?” _ He said in a tone of utter confusion.

Rey burst into peals uncontained laughter at his face, and with that, the anger dissipated from the air.

“I… it’s from a playlist I found,” she explained in between giggles.

“What kind of playlist has a song about… Jewish werewolves?” Ben asked, and Rey hung her head and pointed to the dining room.

Frowning, Ben stepped through the doorway and stopped dead in his tracks.

A round loaf of still-steaming challah bread sat in the middle of the table, sprinkled with raisins on top, next to a small ramekin of honey and a bowl of sliced apples. A small lit candle cast bright light on the collection of food before him.

_ “Werewolf bar mitzvah! Kooky, hairy. Boys becoming men! Men becoming wolves!” _

With a low howl, the song finally switched to a cheerful piano tune as Rey shuffled in behind him. 

“I just searched ‘Rosh Hashanah’ on Spotify, and I didn’t think to check the songs or anything. It’s just… when your mom wished you a happy new year, I realized I hadn’t even thought of what that might mean for you, so I asked her how you’re supposed to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, and Googled some stuff too, and I was so worried the challah would burn that I didn’t-”

He interrupted her rambling by turning around swiftly and crushing his lips to hers, his hands gently caressing her face. Rey blinked a moment, then returned his kiss with interest, weaving her fingers into his hair as she hummed against his mouth.

Once he broke away, Ben sprinkled a few more kisses on her forehead and pulled her closer to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair. “I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“I’m sorry too. I know you spent all morning cleaning, and I honestly didn’t realize how much of a mess I made until you came home. I…” Rey fidgeted with the hem of her shirt before finally mumbling, “I was worried you wouldn’t like it.”

Closing his eyes with a wince, he rested his forehead against hers and tapped her chin tenderly until she looked up at him.

“I love it.”

Sniffing a little, Rey swiped at her eyes. “Really? I mean, I know I probably didn’t do it right-”

He kissed her nose and wiped a tear away with his thumb. “It’s perfect.”

As he grabbed them each an apple slice, he scooted the bowl of honey closer to the edge. He dipped his slice into the honey, smiling as Rey copied him while trying to stop the sticky drops from falling on the table.

The words came slowly but surely to the forefront of his mind, bringing with them bittersweet memories of laughing family meals, of somber reflection, of hissed arguments, of warm embraces pushed away.

_ “Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, borei p’ri ha-eitz,” _ Ben started, swallowing thickly as Rey watched with kind eyes. “We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the tree.”

His vision of the apple wavered as he stubbornly kept tears back until Rey slid her hand into his, squeezing it softly.

He coughed, then continued,  _ “Y’hi ratzon milfanecha, Adonai Eloheinu v’Elohei avoteinu v’imoteinu, shetchadesh aleinu shanah tovah um’tukah.” _

Gripping Rey’s hand, he reminded himself that Rosh Hashanah was not only a Day of Remembrance, but a time to look forward, to make changes, to set the tone for the rest of the year.

“May it be Your will, Eternal our God, that this be a good and sweet year for us,” Ben finished softly, placing the apple in his mouth and savoring the flavor on his tongue, as well as the quiet amusement of Rey trying to covertly lick the honey off of her wedding ring.

Moving closer, he pressed his mouth to hers again, the taste of honey mixed with a sweetness all her own.

“A good and sweet year, hm?” Rey repeated, eyes sparkling.

“Something like that.”

“So… did we start or finish the year with our first married fight?”

“I suppose we started it.”

“Well, as long as we can both admit that I was right and you were wrong, I think that’s a great precedent,” she teased.

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Is that how that fight went?”

“It is if you want to get lucky tonight,” Rey winked as Ben chuckled.

“In that case, I concede.”

Rey grinned victoriously and leaned in for a kiss.

“As long as you shower first. Did you use the entire bag of flour just on your head?” He asked, wiping a bit of white dust off of her nose.

“Hey! I had never made challah bread before! I wanted to make sure I got it right!”

“By making the neighbors think you’re Breaking Bad in here?”

Sighing in exasperation, Rey rolled her eyes. “That is not what it looks…”

She glanced at the powder-coated counters, the floor, and the edges of the cabinets.

“Okay, that’s maybe a  _ little  _ what it looks like.”

“That’s alright. You make a perfect Walter White.” 

Rey glared at him as he tilted his head at her white-streaked hair. “Or maybe Casper the Friendly Ghost?”

After shoving him playfully, Ben caught her in another kiss, hands toying with the edge of her shirt while she traced his jawline and nipped lightly at his bottom lip. Before he could suggest that the challah bread could wait a while, Rey sighed and buried her face into his shoulder.

“I love you.”

Running his fingers through her hair, Ben rested his cheek against her head. “I love you too.”

She glanced up at him with a soft smile. “I guess as long as we begin with that, we should have a pretty sweet year.”

The whispered regrets of all his past mistakes faded as hope and warmth slowly rose in his heart.

“And a pretty good lifetime,” he added, and the remains of honey on his tongue was nothing compared to the caramel richness in Rey’s eyes as she kissed him in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, thank you for allowing me to bless everyone who reads this with the lyrics of "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", by Tracy Morgan and Donald Glover. Please, enrich your lives by listening to it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25EYLtqiyTo).


	2. Sweetness to the Ear

Ben opened the door and was immediately assaulted by a cacophony of ear-splitting screams and a series of small missiles bombarded his knees.

_ “DAAAAA-DDDDDYYYYY!!!” _

Wincing at the volume and the pitch, Ben feigned a slow fall to the ground, succumbing to the onslaught.

“Oh no! There’s… too many of them… I can’t... hold out. So… alone.” As he slumped to the floor, the twins giggled and climbed onto his chest, bouncing on his solar plexus, while BB yipped and licked his face.

“You’re not alone!” A loud voice announced before plucking Daniel off his father’s stomach. “I’ll save you!” Rey declared, tickling her four-year-old as he shrieked in delight, causing the corgi to spin in excited circles.

“No,  _ I’m _ saving Daddy!” Hannah argued, collapsing heavily and nearly clocking Ben’s chin with her head. “You’re the bad guy!”

Rey gasped and slung Daniel over her shoulder with one hand while placing the other on her hip. “Me?! I will have you know that  _ I _ am the good guy here - ask anyone!”

“I don’t know about that,” Ben drawled from the floor, and Rey shot him a look before dropping Daniel smack on top of his diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him.

Ben groaned, curling up into a ball as BB sneezed on him in justification, “Ooo, she got me,” he coughed.

“Daddy Daddy Daddy guess what I’m gonna be for Halloween!” Hannah shouted right into his eardrum.

Rubbing his ear, Ben got to his feet and settled Hannah on his hip. “What?”

“Imma… Imma… Imma gonna be… Batman!!”

“Batman! Wow!” Ben responded as if this hadn’t been announced to him multiple times every day for the past two weeks.

Not to be outdone, Daniel clung to Ben’s ankle as he shuffled into the kitchen and yelled, “I’m gonna be a ger-ator!”

“Oh, I see.” Ben nodded solemnly before whispering to Rey, “Any idea what that means?”

“Nope. Although I did figure out that ‘ha-dah’ means ‘hot-dog’, but that’s yesterday’s news.” She stirred the mashed potatoes, then waggled her eyebrows. “Literally.” 

Popping up from the floor, Daniel rushed over to Rey. “No! I don’ wanna be a hah-dah any more! I wanna be a ger-ator!”

“I hear you buddy, but I don’t really know what that is.”

“A ger-ator!” He enunciated louder. “With dinner!”

Ben and Rey met each other’s gaze with identical looks of confusion.

“I got nothing,” Rey mouthed as Ben shrugged cluelessly. 

“Gamma said I could!”

Reaching over the counter to snag some mashed potatoes, Ben rolled his eyes and mumbled, “I bet she did.”

“Well bud, I’m glad Grandma approves, but I still don’t know what you’re saying,” Rey explained, then reached behind her and smacked Ben’s hand as he scooped up more mashed potatoes. “You do that again and I’m telling Leia about your terrible table manners.”

When Ben blinked at her with potatoes smeared all over his fingers and asked, “Do what?” Rey glared at him and locked eyes with BB as she pointed at Ben. “Watch him. Hannah, Danny, time to set the table please.”

“I wanna purple cup!” Hannah yelled as she scrambled toward the drawer.

“No,  _ I _ wanna purple cup!” Daniel shrieked in protest, tackling his sister to the ground.

Letting out a long sigh as she looked to the ceiling for patience, Rey pressed her lips together and motioned to her husband.

“Ben, can you…?”

“Kids, listen to your mother,” he called out, wiping mashed potatoes off his hands as he snagged a piece of garlic bread and grinned at Rey, who was currently shooting him a death glare. BB yipped at him and tugged on the hem of his pants in warning.

“I will murder you,” she hissed, and Ben simply kissed her forehead before kneeling down to pull the four-year-olds apart.

“Hey, hey. Let’s all take deep breaths. Remember, we use gentle hands and gentle words with each other. No pulling or tackling. That’s not kind.”

“You tackle Mommy sometimes!” Hannah protested as her parents both stared for a moment.

“I do what?”

Placing her hands on her hips as Rey did when delivering an explanation, Hannah continued, “When I got a drink of water lasternight, you and Mommy were tackling each other in bed.”

A muffled snort escaped as Ben tried his utmost to keep his face serious. “Well, that’s because…” Trailing off, he glanced back in a plea for help.

Rey let him sit in the awkwardness for a good minute before interjecting, “That’s something grown-ups do sometimes when they both say it’s okay.”

“I think it’s okay,” Daniel mumbled.

Raising an eyebrow, Ben asked, “To tackle your sister?” 

“Yes!”

“Hannah? Did you think it was okay?”

“No! I wanna purple cup!”

Rey sighed. “Okay, no one is having the purple cup tonight. You can have blue or green. And no grabbing or pulling or tackling unless everyone is having fun.”

“Or else we’ll be in trouble?” Daniel guessed as Ben nodded.

“Exactly.”

Hannah frowned in thought. “Was Mommy in trouble?”

A slow grin stretched across Ben’s face. “Yes she was.”

“And Daddy’s going to be in trouble if he doesn’t help set the table. Apologize to each other please,” Rey interrupted, earning a playful smack on her butt as the twins said begrudging ‘sorry’s and raced off.

“Daddy enjoys being in trouble every now and then,” he rumbled behind her until Rey elbowed him in the stomach.

“Yeah, you’re going to be in real trouble if you pull that ‘listen to your mother while ignoring the problem’ shit again,” Rey promised, the redness in her cheeks belying her rebuking tone.

“Anything you say,” he soothed, sneaking a kiss that Rey slowly returned with rising heat until the twins yelled about their hunger and BB barked in agreement. 

“Alright, Romeo. Go manage your circus before any of that,” Rey pushed him away with a sparkle in her eye.

And as Ben sorted out the appropriate colors of cups and plates and drinks and amounts of peas and pieces of bread, he could only think to himself,  _ There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. _

***

“Can I be anywhere but here?” Ben asked with only a bit of a whine to his tone.

Rey glared nonetheless. “We are not here for you. We are here for  _ your _ children to enjoy the holiday, see their friends, overdose on candy and run around until they pass out, and you are  _ not  _ leaving me to deal with all of that by myself.”

Resigning himself to his fate, he watched the horde of children rush from station to station in the community center, shoving candy into their pumpkin buckets and shrieking in delight.

“And they say war is hell!” A voice joked, and Rey turned to Rose and Finn wading through the sea of toddlers with a wide smile.

“You made it!”

“Are you kidding? Marie has been asking us about this every night for the last week.” Finn, wearing a fuzzy blue monster onesie, hefted a small two-year-old with adorable pigtails on his hip.

“Annadanny?” 

“They’re right over there,” Rey pointed to the twins trying to snatch bites of donuts hanging from strings with their hands behind their back.

“Annadanny!” Marie yelled, squirming to get down. “I have donut?”

Rose, with her cat-eye glasses and frumpy sweater, replied, “You can have one donut, Marie, but remember to ask-”

Successfully leaping out of Finn’s arms, Marie ran off with her green Mike Wazowski plushie shouting all the way, “Donut! Annadanny!”

“Well, that does accurately reflect her priorities,” Finn joked as Rose tilted her head.

“Okay, so if Hannah is Batgirl-”

“Batman. She’s very specific.”

“Right, Batman, what exactly is Danny?” She gestured to the boy with his head sticking out above a large white cardboard box.

Ben answered tiredly, “He’s a refrigerator. With dinner.”

Frowning, Finn repeated, “With dinner?”

“The door opens and we velcroed some felt food inside. There’s also felt ice cream in the freezer,” Rey explained.

“Oh my God that’s amazing.”

Rubbing his forehead, Ben sighed, “Took us a week to figure out what he was asking for, then we had to make the whole thing from scratch in two days.”

“Well, it looks great.” Rose informed them, just as a familiar piercing wail echoed across the room.

“And here we go,” Ben muttered as he and Rey went to sort out the latest candy-fueled fracas. 

Kneeling down, he patted a sobbing Hannah’s back. “What’s going on, sweetheart?”

As Daniel grabbed his father’s finger in one hand and clutched Marie’s sticky grasp in the other, Hannah pointed at one of the volunteers running the donut station and bawled, “He said I wasn’t Batman!”

Rey gave the volunteer, an older redheaded man whose nametag read ‘Canady’, a weary smile. “I’m so sorry. She’s a bit sensitive about her costume. She’s specifically Batman, not-”

“Well she can’t be Batman,” Canady interrupted with a patronizing look. 

Blinking, Rey stared. “Excuse me?”

“Batman is a boys’ costume. For boys. She can be a princess, if she wants.”

“I don’ wanna be a princess, I wanna be  _ Batman!” _ Hannah shouted as Ben picked her up, Rose and Finn holding the other children’s hands as they watched the scene unfold.

Rey slowly straightened. “Are you actually suggesting that a four-year-old can’t dress up as a superhero for Halloween?”

“Look, superheroes are one of the last things boys have that they don’t have to share with all of the liberal snowflakes. Girls have all their own pink princess crap, so why do they have to steal boys’ stuff too?”

Taking one step forward, Rey went very still. “You’re saying that my four-year-old can’t dress up in a costume because she’s stealing it from boys.”

“I’m saying that comics and video games in the superhero genre was made for boys, so all these women coming in and-”

“Do you know any part of the history of caped crusaders?” Rey asked in a tone dripping with ice as a small vicious grin formed on Ben’s face.

“Of course. I’ve been reading the comics since-”

“Not the comics. The genre. The superhero genre as a whole, with alter-egos and masked vigilantes. Any idea where it comes from?”

“Well, actually, Zorro-”

“No. Before Batman, before the Shadow, even before Zorro, there was a book called the  _ Scarlet Pimpernel _ , written over a hundred years ago. Do you know who wrote it? No? A woman named Baroness Emma Orczy.”

“Well-”

“Do you know who came up with the first horror novel that was a precursor to science fiction? Mary Shelley, who wrote  _ Frankenstein _ when she was  _ seventeen years old _ . Any clue who wrote the first computer program before any machine could even read it yet? A  _ woman _ named Ada Lovelace.”

Canady, who was turning an angry crimson, stabbed a finger in her direction. “Look, lady-”

Taking Hannah from Ben’s arms, Rey gave him one last blazing look before finishing, “So do not come to me or my daughter or any other person who has the slightest amount of intelligent thought saying that these things you worship are only suitable for boys. Women created them. Women formed them. And God help the woman who created you if she knew what ignorant bile her son was dribbling in public.”

Turning on her heel, Rey marched away, leaving Canady trembling in fury and multiple witnesses staring with slack jaws as Hannah stuck out her tongue in a parting insult.

“Who the hell is that?” The corpulent man demanded

Ben, wearing a terrifying full-toothed grin, fixed Canady with a piercing gaze and announced in a righteously proud voice, “Her name is Rey. And that’s  _ my wife.” _

***

After a lovely dinner at the Waffle House, the adults all buckled the sleeping children into their carseats with laughter and occasional looting of candy. As Rey and Rose planned their next coffee date, Finn commented quietly, “You know, most people consider you to be the scary one.”

The men watched their wives chat for a moment, Rey glancing over to meet Ben’s admiring look with a slight blush. 

Ben shook his head with a fond chuckle as he headed towards the car. “They would be very, very wrong.”

  
  



	3. Sweetness to the Heart

This day was officially the worst day of Rey’s life.

All Rey wanted to do was get out of London and back to Chicago, but whatever Fates out there were clearly doing their best to prevent that, since her 5 am flight was first delayed, then canceled, then rescheduled, then delayed again, then finally she was put on standby and told to check back in forty-five minutes.

Desperately needing caffeine, she trudged through the line for the airport Starbucks, gave them her order, then joined the rest of the weary crowd as they waited for their drinks.

“Order for Ren!” 

Sighing in relief, Rey reached up to the counter for the venti cup, then frowned as a large hand grabbed it first.

She turned, then looked up, up, and up until she could finally glare at this absurdly tall (and maybe a little handsome, but that clearly wasn’t the point) man stealing her coffee.

“Um, that’s mine,” she said, trying to reclaim the drink.

Dark, honeyed eyes narrowed at her under black wavy hair as he easily moved the cup out of her reach. “No. It’s not.”

“Look, see the ‘Ren’ there on the cup? They misspell  _ my  _ name,” she pointed to herself, “‘Rey’, all the time, so I can be pretty sure that’s mine.”

He somehow managed to look  _ more  _ down at her than he already was. “They clearly misheard me say ‘Ben’, so I can be  _ absolutely  _ sure that this is in fact, mine.”

“No one mishears ‘Ben’ as anything. That’s clearly mine. Now give it back,” she lunged for the coffee as he stepped backwards with a scornful glare.

“No.”

She rubbed her forehead in a useless attempt to fight the headache that was already forming. “Look, this day has already been years long and it’s only 8 am. I would just like to drink my coffee in peace and wait for this nightmare to end, so will you please give me my Starbucks, or would you like me to report you to-”

“Order for Rey!”

They both slowly turned towards the counter.

“I’ve got a venti coffee with room for cream for Rey!”

Her cheeks flaming, Rey opted to march up to the bar, grab her drink, and storm off towards her gate, all too aware of the infuriatingly smug look coming from the man who had just nominated himself to be her Arch Nemesis. As she speed-walked away, he tossed out, “Try not to steal from anyone else.”

Worst. Day. Ever.

…

“Alright ma’am, I believe we do have one seat left,” the woman behind the grey desk informed her as Rey let out a shriek of joy.

“Thank you thank you thank you. I have been trying to get out of here for five hours now, and I just-”

“Ma’am, the flight is boarding right now, so if you do want to make it-”

“Oh right! Thank you again!”

Rey was so happy to actually be getting on some flight - any flight - she didn’t even care that she had to gate-check her carry-on, or that she was bound to get squeezed into a middle seat, probably right between a crying baby and-

She froze.

“Oh no. No no no no.”

Turning to the flight attendant behind her, Rey hissed, “Is there any other seat available? Anywhere? I can sit on the wing!”

With a wan customer-service smile, the flight attendant shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am. We are a completely booked flight, aside from the last-minute cancellation.”

“Probably because they saw their seat-mate,” Rey mumbled to herself. Heaving a giant sigh, she resigned herself to her fate and begrudgingly kicked her bag underneath the seat as the dark-haired man next to her looked up from his tablet and regarded her with a disapproving frown.

“You have  _ got  _ to be shitting me,” he announced flatly.

She pressed her lips into a tight, mirthless smile as she slumped into her seat, crossing her arms. “If only.”

After studiously ignoring him, Ben eventually stopped staring at her and put in his earbuds for some undoubtedly super boring podcast. As Rey rummaged in her bag and pulled out her own selection of music, she heard a low, horrified, “What. Is. That.”

Rey pressed her lips together. “It’s my music.”

“It’s an… iPod.”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with it?”

“It’s  _ ancient _ . It belongs in a museum!”

“It still works. Sorry if that offends you,” she snapped, shoving her headphones in and glaring out the window.

They sat in pointed silence during the safety demonstration and take off, easing into a mutual assumption of ignoring each other for the rest of the flight. Until Rey started the crossword.

She was filling out words until an agitated huff came from her right. Her eyes narrowed, but she kept her gaze on the in-flight magazine. After the third irritated sigh, Rey finally whirled around. 

“What?!”

Ben slid his eyes back to his phone. “Nothing.”

“Clearly  _ something  _ is on your mind,” she growled.

He pressed his lips together, then mumbled, “It’s ‘medley’. Not ‘melody’.”

Rey blinked, then stared at 36 down. “No. It’s not. ‘Melody’ makes sense and it fits.”

“‘A series of music put together’. Medley.”

Wrinkling her nose, Rey jerked her chin at the magazine in the seat in front of him. “Look, if you’re so sure, feel free to get your own crossword.”

They exchanged hostile glares, with Ben finally looking away first, which Rey took as a sign of victory. She continued viciously solving her crossword, intent on simultaneously ignoring Ben and proving his dumb ‘medley’ theory wrong.

Then the plane dropped.

Granted, it was only for a second or two, but Rey still let out a scream, screwed her eyes shut, and grabbed her armrests in a death grip.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I've turned on the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign and asked the flight attendants to be seated. We may be entering an area of turbulence and would like everyone to remain in their seats for safety.”

“Shit shit shit shit,” Rey chanted to herself, desperately trying to control her breathing.

“Are you alright?” 

She squinted out of one eye to see Ben staring at her with an unreadable expression.

“I’m fine,” she replied tightly, and his eyebrows drew together dubiously.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “What’s it matter to you, anyway?”

After a long pause, he finally answered, “You’re holding my hand.”

Rey blinked, then looked down to see her hand gripping his large (like… really large) hand. Flushing with embarrassment, Rey snatched her hand away and put them both in her lap. “Sorry.”

“Are you afraid of flying?”

“No, no, it’s not that. Planes aren’t the probl-”

Her sentence was interrupted by another bout of turbulence, causing Rey to shriek and clutch her armrests again.

“So... you  _ are  _ scared of flying?”

“No, idiot, I’m scared of falling!”

Ben watched her for a moment, then calmly stated, “Well that’s stupid.”

Rey’s eyes snapped open.

_ “What?” _

“Planes are overwhelmingly safer than any other form of travel.”

“Oh, I’m  _ so  _ sorry that my fears don’t seem logical to you.”

“I mean, they’re not. The death rate by car is 750 times higher per mile than for flying in a commercial airplane. You’re three times more likely to die of choking on your food than dying in a plane crash.”

“And I suppose that for a dead-inside, heartless  _ monster  _ like yourself, everything is ruled by numbers and statistics,” Rey growled, her fear fading under the heat of her outrage. “No room for empathy, or feelings of any kind.”

His eyebrow lifted. “Feelings change. Numbers don’t. It’s foolish to count on such mercurial things when emotions appear and disappear like shadows. Makes you weak.”

“Wow.  _ Wow. _ Emotions make you weak. What a load of absolute  _ bullshit _ ,” Rey hissed. “What a gendered, moronic, outdated, toxic thing to say - like emotions don’t matter, that feeling anything makes you less than those who pretend they don’t, that if someone dares to act like they’re afraid, sad, angry, anything other people don’t like, that you can dismiss whatever point they’re making, whatever they’ve experienced, whatever they’re trying to say!”

By the time she finished, her focus had narrowed to only Ben’s face, waiting to tear down his next insulting argument.

Ben shrugged nonchalantly. “Fair enough.”

All of her pent up energy suddenly without a purpose, Rey stared in confusion as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “That’s all you have to say? You’re just giving up?”

Motioning to the absent warning light, Ben stood and replied, “Turbulence is over.”

“What on earth does that have to do with any-” She stopped suddenly, her mind processing an impossible thought as he made his way up front.

Turbulence was over.

It was over, and she hadn’t had a panic attack.

Most flights were fine, but every now and again, the plane would shake and she’d be right back in that awful council estate, listening to Plutt shake the walls with his drunken rants as he threw pots and pans across the room as she cowered in the corner.

But this time - nothing. She had been too enraged, too focused to think of anything else besides...

When Ben eventually returned to his seat, Rey waited as he settled himself, then bit her lip in hesitation before slowly asking, “Did you start an argument with me on purpose? To distract me?”

He regarded her for a moment, then dropped his eyes and half-shrugged. “I have a propensity for pissing people off. Figured I could put it to good use for once.”

Her silence seemed to confuse him, and when he glanced over at her, she mumbled a small, “Thank you.”

Blinking at her, he waited a beat before replying just as softly, “... You’re welcome.”

As the flight attendants came through to take drink orders, Rey finally blurted, “You were right.”

Dark brows furrowed in confusion at her, and she noticed for the first time the flecks of gold in his irises. “Oh?”

“It was ‘medley’. In the crossword. I had to concede defeat when I realized ‘seethe’ didn’t end in a ‘d’, so… you were right.”

Almost cautiously, as if unsure if she was offering him an olive branch or a venomous snake, Ben shifted and responded, “Oh. Well. I wasn’t entirely sure. They make the clues vague on purpose. ‘Melody’ was a good guess.”

“Thanks,” she gave him a small smile and gestured to the magazine. “Any idea what you call someone who leaves for lunch?”

He leaned over to read the clue for 15 across. “Salad.” When Rey tilted her head at him, he nodded at the hint. “‘Leaves for lunch’. Salad.”

“Oh.” She rolled her eyes with a grin that seemed to unsettle him for some reason. “Should have guessed that one.”

They were stuck on the last corner section when the next bout of turbulence hit.

As Rey screwed her eyes shut and forced herself to breathe, a low rumble that sped up her heartbeat for a completely different reason asked, “Are you alright?” as heat ghosted across her skin.

She cracked an eye open to see that she was once again gripping his hand, but this time it was palm up, with his thumb gently circling over her knuckles.

“Yeah,” she managed, her voice only cracking a little. “I’m- I’m fine.”

“If you need me to start another argument, I can.”

Rey gave that a breath of a laugh. “I think I’m okay, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

Taking a sip of her ginger ale, she turned and asked, “But out of curiosity, what would you argue about?”

“Something you’d probably take far too personally.”

“Oh, like you’d know what I’d take personally.”

He raised an eyebrow in challenge, then simply said, “Women are ruining superhero movies.”

Her jaw dropped. “How dare you even-”

The half rant that had escaped out of pure instinct stopped when she saw the smallest quirk to the corner of his (nicely full) mouth. 

“Alright, fine, you got me there. But you don’t actually think that, do you? Because if so-”

Ben chuckled, the deep bass reverberating into her chest. “Personally I don’t really care for superhero movies - I think they’re far past overdone at this point. But both men and women are welcome to swarm the saturated super market if they like.”

Rey stopped, then a wide grin stretched across her face. “Did you just make a pun? With ‘super-market?’”

When he only shrugged, she laughed and shoved his arm. “You did! You’re secretly funny under your dark broody look!”

“This is not a look. This is just what I wear.”

“Uh-huh. Like you didn’t purposefully choose to wear all black today.”

“I like black.”

“I’m sure you do,” she teased, taking in his tailored all-black suit with the tip of her tongue between her teeth. “Who died, anyway? Technicolor?”

He stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, then looked away and mumbled, “My dad. The funeral’s today.”

Absolutely mortified, Rey clapped her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God, I am so sorry, I had no idea I just thought that you were a grown-up goth and I didn’t even realize that there might be an actual reason and I am obviously the worst, most insensitive person in the entire galaxy and-”

He held up a hand to stop her rambling. “It’s okay. Really.”

When she did nothing but stare at her feet and pray the earth would swallow her up, Ben bumped her shoulder and added, “And I do normally wear black. It’s my favorite color.”

That encouraged her to at least peek up at him. “Black isn’t anyone’s favorite color,” she said, relieved to see that same small lift to his mouth as he canted his head.

“It is for grown-up goth kids,” he informed her solemnly with the smallest twinkle in his eye.

Swallowing, still red in the face, she murmured, “Sorry about your dad.”

“Eh,” he shrugged. “It’s alright. We had a… complicated relationship. I honestly wasn’t going to go, but my mom…”

He trailed off, and Rey hesitantly offered, “I get that. The complicated relationship, I mean.”

His gaze shifted over to her. “Yeah? Your family too?”

“Well… if I knew them, probably.” A flash of something pained flickered in his eyes. “But with my foster father back in London, definitely.” She gave a self-deprecating half-smile. “You can blame him for the fun turbulence panic stuff.”

Ben’s jaw tensed for a moment, but then he asked somewhat calmly, “Is that where you live? London?”

“No. London hasn’t been my home for… a long time now. I was just back to visit some friends and because I thought there was a lead on my real parents, but…” Choking back this latest reminder of how alone she was, Rey forced a tight smile. “But there wasn’t. So, now it’s back home to Chicago.”

She watched him open his mouth, but before he could offer sympathy or say anything that would loosen the tight control she had on the tears in her eyes, Rey tried the perkiest voice she could manage, “So where are you from?”

For a second she thought he didn’t buy it, but he leaned back in his chair and answered, “New York.”

“Pfft. That fits. Let me guess, you’re a Wall Street guy.”

Ben frowned at her in surprise. “Investment banker. My firm has a branch in London.”

“Ha! Told you!”

“And what do you do?”

“I help run a charity.”

It was now his turn to snort in laughter. “Well that definitely fits. Is your halo in your carry on?”

“I’ll have you know that I checked it. TSA gets weird about floating, glowing metal objects,” she informed him primly, earning another wry half-grin. “That and the fact I can use it as a weapon.”

He shook his head. “You warrior princesses and your death frisbees.”

Rey stared. “You know Xena? I thought you said superheroes were overdone!”

“They are. She’s a hero, not a superhero, and besides, classics are classics.”

Biting her lip in amusement, Rey teased, “Aren't you full of surprises?”

He met her gaze for a moment before answering in a low, deep voice that reverberated through her chest, “I aim to please.”

She was saved from explaining the sudden rush of heat to her cheeks and belly by the flight attendant dropping off their meals. Once she had scarfed down her lunch (and part of Ben’s that he generously offered), the exhaustion of the day finally hit. Leaning back, she closed her eyes for just a minute - or at least, she meant to. The loud ‘ding’ of the seatbelt sign and captain’s announcement about preparing to land slowly brought her to wakefulness a few hours later. 

Groaning in protest, she tried to bury her head back into her pillow, savoring its warmth and rich musky scent as a comforting weight rest on top of her-

Wait.

Her eyes snapping open, Rey was suddenly, acutely aware that at some point during her nap, she had leaned over to rest on Ben’s shoulder. And then, presumably at a later point, he started sleeping on her head in return. 

Which she found she didn’t really mind all that much.

With only a brief hesitation, Rey decided that since she was already here, might as well lean into it. Snuggling into his shoulder, she inhaled deeply, trying to memorize the oaky, rich scent that brought to mind a crackling fire and intoxicating spices.

Her pillow shifted, and in a moment of panic that she was about to be caught sniffing her seatmate like a total creeper, Rey opted to fake being asleep. Ben’s shoulder rolled again, and he let out a long, tired sigh while cracking his neck before she felt every muscle in his body suddenly tense up.

Slowly, the weight lifted off the top of her head, and she could almost imagine his dark caramel eyes staring at her (pretend) sleeping form. A minute passed, then two, with no action on his part. Rey was about to fake waking up when the seatbelt sign dinged again, and a warm expanse covered her hand.

“Rey?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re… we’re about to land,” Ben told her, and she almost thought the statement sounded… regretful.

Jerking upward, she coughed awkwardly. “Oh. Thanks. Sorry about…” She gestured vaguely, fully aware of her red cheeks.

“No, it’s alright,” Ben assured her, and she could have sworn there was a hint of pink in his face as well. “It’s… It’s been a long day. And not even over yet.”

“Another flight?”

“Yeah. Connects from here to California. Funeral’s in Sacramento.” He dragged his hand across his eyes. “Though I’m not even sure why I’m going. Or what my mom expects me to do.”

Unsure if Ben was looking for a reply, Rey cautiously ventured, “I think the best thing you can do is just… be there.”

He glanced over at her, amber eyes catching her own.

“I mean, that’s what we all want, isn’t it?” She shrugged self-consciously. “To have someone be there when you’re hurting.”

The intensity of his stare was nearly a physical pull that it was suddenly broken by the plane bouncing on the ground, the force of the landing pulling both of them forward. As they collected their things, Rey debated with herself all the way up the ramp, Ben’s presence a constant heat at her back.

“Well…” Ben started as the rest of the passengers pushed around them. “I should probably head to my gate, but I-”

“Can I buy you a coffee?” She blurted out, Ben blinking at the interruption.

“What?”

“For the one I tried to steal. Is your flight leaving soon?”

He checked his watch. “Two hours. I… I have time for a coffee.”

A smile blossomed on Rey’s face. “Really?”

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a gentle, almost surprised grin. “Yeah.”

An hour and a half passed far faster than it had any right to, starting with Ben buying her a coffee seconds after she ordered his. 

“Hey! This is my treat! For stealing yours!”

“And this is mine. For being a jerk about it,” he responded, a wry tilt to his head.

She let that slide with a laugh, and the rest of the conversation flowed as they sat down at a small table, exchanging questions and stories with dry wit and quick humor, Rey counting it a personal victory whenever Ben allowed himself a small chuckle. The announcement of flight 1138 to Sacramento now boarding startled the both of them, and Ben checked the time with a muttered curse.

“I could have sworn it was… I should…” Ben slung his bag over his shoulder, stood, then nearly clocked Rey in the face as he spun around with wide eyes. “Sorry, sorry. Are you… I just…”

After he stared at her for a full minute, Rey took pity on him. “Do you have a card?”

“Huh?”

“In case my charity ever needs an investment banker.”

“Oh. Right.” He fished one out of his wallet and handed it to her, his hand lingering for just a moment.

“Do you have one? In case my firm ever needs a… charity,” he finished lamely, and Rey stifled a chuckle.

“Not yet, but here,” a few moments of typing on her phone, and a business-like ping suddenly echoed from his pocket. He pulled it out and flicked up the screen to see  _ “Hi! It’s Rey!” _ , followed by a series of far too happy emojis.

“There. Now you can text me if your firm is in desperate need of a charity,” she teased, the tip of her tongue between her teeth somehow derailing any coherent answer he might have had.

The gate announcement for his flight came again, and he glared at the line before turning back to Rey, a thousand things hanging unsaid between them.

“If… if you come back through Chicago,” she started at the same time he said, “Look, if I have a layover…”

Rey laughed, a bright, happy sound that Ben realized he could stand to hear forever. 

“If you do have a layover, just let me know. I can show you all the good spots.”

“Right.” He nodded, feeling the panic of his chance- whatever chance actually existed- closing fast.

“Well, I should let you get to-”

“It’s not that far,” he managed in a rush, Rey blinking at him in confusion. “New York, I mean. From Chicago.”

Her hazel eyes met his for a long moment, then a slow smile broke across her face. “No. I don’t think it is.”

Caught halfway between reaching for this first bit of hope in a long time and running as far away as he possibly could, Ben swallowed. “Could… could we do this?”

Rey tilted her head. “Do you want to?”

“Yes,” he nearly whispered.  _ More than anything. _

“Then we can do it.” She shrugged, as if it was that simple. “I just need to check one thing first.”

“Oh, of course,” he offered, ready to answer any questions she might have. Hell, she could have his social security number if it meant-

Her lips suddenly pressed to his, and Ben could have sworn he saw lightning dancing across their skin as he shifted his arm around her waist, holding her as close as he could, reverent, searching fingers splaying against her back as she tangled her hands into his hair with a demanding hum.

He honestly could not have said how long they stood there, because when they broke apart he could barely remember his name - let along any fact that wasn’t how intoxicating she tasted.

“Did you… did that…” he managed, relieved to see Rey’s cheeks in high flush as well.

“Oh, yeah. D-definitely figured out what… I wanted to.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Yeah.” She nodded back at him, slightly out of breath, then stepped forward for another, softer kiss. “I’m glad I met you,” she murmured.

Ben barely had time to mumble, “Me too,” before a tinny voice announced his final boarding call.

Rey smiled and gently pushed him toward his gate. “Go. Until next time.”

Catching her hand, he pressed it to his cheek, then to his mouth before letting her go.

“Next time,” he agreed, unable to escape the feeling that this was the greatest day of his life.


End file.
